Download - Practical English Phonetics
Practical English Phonetics
Contents
• I. Introduction
• II. The organs of speech
• III. English Speech Sounds
• IV. Sounds in Connected Speech
• V. Intonation
• I. Introduction – The importance of phonetic study
• A) Phonetics is the science and study of speech sounds ( sounds made by human speech organs representing meaning ). It deals with the sound system of a language.
• Phonetics is a branch of linguistics: phonetics, vocabulary and grammar.
• Speech sound is the basic element for word + grammar to rely on.
• (To learn any spoken language, the first step is to learn the basic sounds. )
• a): Relations between speech sound + word• i) sound affects the formation of words• Describe---description five----fifteen twelve----twelft
h • (onomatopoeia)• cackle quack honk twitter chirp grunt roar gig
gle blab• soup slurp sip slop sloppy slob • ii) Sounds + irregular verb form change• in original form, no change in other 2 past forms.• E.g. Bet bet bet let let let upset upset upset • Spread spread spread
• / in origin form, / / is changed into / / in other forms
• E.g. Meet met met feed fed fed lead led led
• Leave left left keep kept kept read read read
• Sleep slept slept feel felt felt sweep swept swept
• Verbs with / / in original form, d changed into / /• E g. Send sent sent bend bent bent lend lent lent
• Spend spent spent build built built
• / / in original verb forms, vowels changed into / or /
• E g. Sing sang sang ring rang rang • sink sank sank Swin swam swam • drink drank drunk spring sprang sprung• Begin began begun swing swung swung • sling slug slung Fling flung flung • wring wrung wrung
• / / / / / / / /• sink sunk( sank) sunk
• stink stunk (stank) stunk
• spin spun (span) spun
• hang hung (hanged) hung (hanged)
• / /changed into / / + / / // //• ride rode ridden• drive drove driven• write wrote written• rise rose risen• arise arose arisen• stride strode stridden• strive strove striven• thrive throve thriven
• // / / / /• speak spoke spoken• steal stole stolen• freeze froze frozen• break broke broken• choose chose chosen• // /:/ /:/• wear wore worn• tear tore torn• bear bore born• swear swore sworn
• iii) Relations between sound and grammar.• Sounds determine parts of speech• desert desert• insult insult• record record• conduct conduct• content content• present present• close close bow bow• lead lead tear tear
• verb tense• read read • number of nouns• man men
• b) A need in communication.• i) Intonation:• ___Yes, Madam ?• ___ I want a piece of soap.• ___ It’s going to rain, isn’t it ?
• ii) the difference between oral language and written language, the distance between sound and transcription:
• Pick it up. [ ] • Think it over.• You should have told us.• Not at all.• Did you eat yet?
• c) A need for further study
• 2.Ways to learn phonetics• more practice
• more listening
• more imitations
• to know the basic rules (how each sound is formed, stress, linking, rhythm, pauses, intonation and etc.)
• 3.Standard English pronunciation• English: The most widely used language in the world ( on
e billion people speak English. 4 hundred million speak it as their first language. 6 hundred people speak it as a second or a foreign language. )– English as native language in countries: British, America, Canada,
New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, Australia– English as second language in countries: China– English as official language in: India, Singapore, the Philippines,
Ghana– English as working language in the United Nations:
• Permanent members: UK, China, France, USA, Russia
• It’s pronunciation varies in different geographical areas, so it has dialects and accents, such as General American (GA), General British (GB)
• RP (received pronunciation): based on the London dialect, used by educated people in southern England, used by the announcers of BBC, also widely used through English-speaking countries. So, it has been accepted everywhere for the teaching of English to foreigners.
• 4. Basic sounds + phonetic transcription
• Basic sound: the smallest phonetic unit of language
• Eg. Sea / :/ composed of 2 sounds: // + /:/• The functions of basic sounds:
• a) distinguish word meaning
• Eg. Bed bad bid
• b) distinguish grammatical form
• E g. Man men work works
• Basic sounds are distinctive.• Any language has a vast number of speech sounds,
yet basic sound are limited in number. In English there are 44 basic sounds in all.
• Phonetic Transcription
• 26 English letters 44 basic sounds
• letters + basic sounds
• a) one sound spelt in different ways
read sea people machine believe receive we key quay
• b) same spelling, different pronunciations
• bough, although cough enough through brought
• c) silent letters
• climb knot autumn island
• d) same spelling, different meanings, different pronunciations
• desert desert lead lead bow bow tear tear
• e) words spelt in different ways have the same pronunciation
• piece peace knot not site cite sea see
• 5. International Phonetic Alphabet• Characteristics: each symbol represents one sound and no
t any other• One sound must be represented by one symbol —// // • 6. Two types of transcription:• Broad transcription: uses a simple set of symbols just to r
epresent the phonemes of a language without ambiguity• Narrow transcription: uses symbol and diacritics to denot
e particular allophones of phonemes